New Offline Courses in Cyber Laws at Chennai and Bangalore by Cyber Law College.
Admission Request Can be registered here.

---

Cyber Law College ........The Other name for Cyber Law Education in India

---

Security Experts Resent Neglect of Indian Anti Virus Companies by CERT-IN

CERT-In which is expected to be the apex security agency in the country post ITA 2006 has been criticized by Indian anti virus companies who feel left out by CERT-In in preference to foreign companies. CERT recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Trend Micro. Top officials said CERT has similar tie-ups with Symantec, Computer Associates and McAfee. Companies such as CAT, Proland and K7 Computers  which have found a mention in the AVAR (Association of Anti-Virus Asia Researcher) listing do not find  mention in the CERT listing of anti-virus resources. ..More in BL

Intermediary Protection..Reduced Responsibilities... 31/12/06 ...1100

The intentions expressed in ITAA 2005 that Intermediaries should be placed above law has been carried out in ITAA 2006 with great finesse. The effective control on the issue has been taken over from the legislation to the drafting of security guidelines which will be in the hands of executives.

It is expected that the CERT-In will be the nodal agency for all such framing of security guidelines as a follow up of the responsibilities conferred on it under Section 70A. Hopefully CERT-IN would not be a pawn in the hands of vested interests and act in the interest of the community.

However, as long as CERT-IN is a division of MIT, it is not possible to expect the institution to be free from influences that need not have the welfare of the society at heart. We need to think of either converting CERT-In into an "Information Security Authority of India" or create another institution of such nature which will be laid by a committee of the standing of TRAI or the proposed Cyber Appellate Tribunal or the previously envisaged office of the Controller of Certifying Authorities (Before it was reduced to a department of MIT)..Details

TRAI Issues Consultation Paper on ISP Issues

TRAI has called for public comments on some issues relating to ISPs. The issues are listed here along with a link to the complete paper. Comments can be sent to Sri S.K.Gupta advisor at  skgupta@trai.gov.in

New Approach to Cyber Crime Regulation.....Sailing Against the Winds...30/12/06..0900

ITAA 2006, the Bill to amend ITA 2000 is now available for public information. It is noted that the "Expert Committee's Recommendation" which was the basis for the amendment has been substantially rejected. Most of the objectionable aspects of the Bill against which  Naavi.org was running a campaign for last more than an year has been removed or suitably altered so that the digital society in India can feel relieved to some extent. We shall discuss the essence of the proposed changes in these columns over the next few weeks. We also invite comments and views from the public on the subject.

Here is the first of the series on the changes proposed to Chapter XI of ITA 2000 on Cyber Crimes. Though some drafting improvments can be seen over ITA 2000, ITAA 2006 still remains a soft law under which  Police are made to work with a handicap in dealing with Cyber Crimes. In this respect India will be sailing against the winds compared to International trends which favour tightening laws. ...Details

Comments on ITA 2000/2006 invited

Now that the copy of the ITA 2000 as amended by ITAA 2006 is available, Naavi.org invites comments from public on the various provisions in the new version of ITA 2000. Send your comments here Copy of the Amended Act  (subject to passing of the ITAA 2006 and notification)

ITAA 2006.. MIT Responds to Public Comments ..28/12/06..1100

The incessant campaign from Naavi.org against some of the proposed amendments to ITA-2000 suggested by the expert committee has after all not gone waste. The version of the amendment bill now before the Parliament represents a gross improvement of the original draft and this responsive attitude of the Ministry needs to be appreciated. On behalf of the public Naavi.org commends the efforts of the unseen individuals in MIT who have made such a change possible. A detailed analysis will be made available on this site shortly.  I thank my friend Mr Ankur Raheja, founder of www.cyberlawtimes.com for passing on a copy of the amendment bill.

Do We Need Compulsory Licensing for OS?..27/12/06..0914

Last month, Miscrosoft and Novell entered into an agreement for a mutual buy out of some software rights. There is an impression that this has given certain rights to Microsoft on the Linux software developed by Novell. If this is indeed the intention behind the deal, it is certainly a matter of concern. However, it is doubtful if Novell can be considered capable of transferring the rights on the Linux code which itself did not own or had already placed in the public domain as open source.

If any attempt is made by Microsoft to claim rights on open source, it could spell a deathknell for the IPR regime in software. Firstly this strengthens the case for India not to recognized Software Patents as it would immediately mean that the society comes under the direct control of a few software giants. Secondly there may be a question mark on Copyright on software also since this is the alternate way of controlling the Cyber Space.

It is time that India redefines the copyright on software and pass a new Digital Copyrights Act according to which any "Operating System Software"  must be brought under a "Compulsory Licensing Regime" with the price and detailed terms of license fixed by the Government.  In order to implement this, we may need a "Digital Copyright Authority of India" as the apex organization that monitors the system and such an authority should be kept outside the influence of the MNCs. Ideally it should be a multi member consortium of prominent educational institutions with prominent personalities in the industry as executive committee members.

Related Article in efytimes.

Cyber Terrorism Strikes in India
Naavi..25/12/06

It is reported that a trojan by name cabnote is on the prowl and attacking Indian Government Networks with sensitive information. There has been a security alert issued in this regard in all the Government websites according to a news report from Times Now. It may be remembered that during the beginning of this year also we had a cyber terrorist attack on India from Pakistan which targetted NIXI.Com which was to introduce the dot in domain name registrations from the 1st of January 2005. The attack was mounted on the servers of net4india.com hosting the NIXI website and took more than a week to set things right. Naavi.org was also one of the sites defaced during this attack. The cabnote threat appears to follow this pattern of new year attack on India.

It is to be noted that the Government of India is about to discuss the dilution of Cyber Crime legislation in India with reduction of imprisonment terms, removal of powers of police to arrest and subordination of judiciary to executive, changing the definition of Cyber Crimes to restrict their scope, freeing intermediaries from liability etc through the Information Technology Act Amendment Bill.  This threat would now open up a fresh discussion on whether it was wise for the Government to try and save baazee.com CEO by dilution of laws when the Cyber Crime threat on the country is ever on the increase.

More Employment Frauds Surface
Naavi..25/12/06

The job offer version of the advanced fee fraud appears to be gaining more victims in Tamil Nadu. We had reported here some time back about the group of job aspirants in Tanjavur who had paid money in connection with a fraudulent job offer made by a lady in the name of a Canadian Hotel. Another fraud of similar nature in the name of an Oil Company by name Chevron has now claimed another victim from Trichy who was offered a "Senior Geologist" post. The Company in this case has actually put up an alert on its website about such frauds but unfortunately the victim has not checked the website earlier.

It is high time that job aspirants take extra care in checking the credentials of the companies offering jobs from abroad.

We Congratulate ICICI Bank
Naavi..25/12/06

Naavi.org has been advocating that companies whose names have been used in phishing frauds should take efforts to alert the public. It can be appreciated that Chevron has taken such step regarding the employment fraud. We also take this opportunity to congratulate ICICI Bank which has put up hoardings in Chennai advising public not to respond to phishing e-mails. It is appreciable that the Bank is prepared to spend money for such public awareness building. Hopefully other companies also take a cue and devote part of their ad budgets to such public awareness about Cyber Crimes.

We Still Await the Copy of the ITA-2000 Amendments Bill
Naavi..20/12/06

Five days have passed since the ITA-2000 amendments bill was tabled in the Parliament on 15th December. Still, MIT have not been able to put a copy of the Bill on their website. The delay reflects badly on  the efficiency of the department that leads the IT developments of the country. Since the session of the Parliament is now closed, the Bill will be taken for discussion only in the next session. There is therefore plenty of time for MIT to update the site with the copy of the Bill. The deferment of the discussion  is of course welcome  since we now may have some time for discussion of the proposed amendments in public.(201206/16:53)..More

 Welcome Mr Apar Gupta

We welcome Mr Apar Gupta, a keen observer of Indian law who will be contributing articles on subjects of interest to the readers of Naavi.org. He will be an associate writer for the site. We hope our readers would find his views interesting and illuminating...Naavi

IPR Protection in Industries
Apar Gupta..16/12/06

IPR has been a matter of concern for many information asset owners. The management of a software company needs to protect proprietary software and hardware tools, as well its logo and brand name under the Intellectual Property Regime of India. Mr Apar Gupta reviews the action to be taken by companies to comply with IPR laws. Details

DataBase Protection in India.
Apar Gupta..16/12/06

A database generally refers to an aggregate of information systematically arranged and fixed, whether on paper or in any other form such as electronic media, i.e. stored in computer system. The issue of database protection has been on the agenda of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright. Protection for databases is in India has been tested in the traditional intellectual property regime of copyright protection. This is contained under the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, post 1994 amendments. The Information Age requires new legal developments.   India indeed needs a new, specific legislation for legal protection of databases...Details

ITA-2000 Amendment Bill Introduced..15/12/06..2000

The much awaited ITA-2000 amendment bill specially designed to protect Intermediaries such as baazee.com has been introduced in the Indian Parliament. Daily India    Hindustan Times

Is India Becoming  a Criminal Friendly Country?

The extraordinary interest shown by writers like Ms Arundati Roy to save Afzal Guru (Convicted with death penalty  for terrorist activity involving an attack on Indian Parliament) raises a doubt if India has become a Criminal Friendly country. How can a group of novelists  proclaim that evidence against Afzal Guru is not good enough for legal scrutiny when a court has already examined the same and come to the conclusion that it is good enough for a death sentence? unless these  intellectuals respected for their respective achievements in different fields are under the influence of terrorists themselves. ..Or are they responding to threats?. The intellectuals should realize that they are pledging their reputation for a cause which is meant to weaken the country. From the days of independence, it appears that Indians are slowly drifting to a culture of 'Freedom for Criminals' even at the cost of danger to our free existence. Under these circumstances, it is no surprise that when the criminal friendly amendments to ITA-2000 become law, there would be a wide support from intellectuals of all description for "progressive thinking".

Even the Supreme Court in its recent decision has shifted its responsibility to Press Council on publishing of "Obscene" content in print . This can clearly be interpreted as a "License to Publish Obscene content" in print and will soon be quoted in support of "Orkut" and other similar sites who thrive on obscenity. 

Politicians have anyway already expressed their views and shown a clear support for all kinds of domestic and international criminals and do not hesitate to make them the ministers.

There appears to be a pattern  developing in the Indian society that is becoming more tolerant towards crime and even terrorists. Sociologists need to analyse the long term impact of these early indicators.

Naavi.org expresses its grief and concern over this tendency to make India  a law less country. Perhaps Naavi.org is amongst the minority group which is still under the influence of what once was a pride..nationalism and patriotism. Your comments on this "Changing Profile of Indians towards Criminal Friendliness" is welcome.

Trend Micro Predicts Cyber Wars in 2007

Trend Micro, one of the leading IT security companies predict an increase in cyber wars in 2007. They also predict that the Social Networking sites such as Orkut and Myspace would be used for gathering more information for focussed attacks on people. Netizens should therefore be wary of posting their profiles in the Social Networking sites. Use of Internet based telephone calls for committing frauds is also predicted.(121206/2000)  Details in snpx.com

Orkut Blocking Investigations

An issue had been raised yesterday "Is Orkut a Rogue Site?". A further corroboration towards this conclusion is presented with the reported attitude of Orkut to investigator's enquiries. It is stated that it would take up to one year to get IP address information from Orkut, obviously, more than sufficient for criminals to go scot free. It is time that Orkut is made to respect Indian laws or shut itself out of the Indian market. India does not need a virtual monster which could be a haven for criminals...(121206/1200) Report in ET, Report in TOI

Report in ET

Orkut needs to be banned

If there is one project which has seriously gone wrong on the Indian Cyber Space, it is Orkut. Every day one controversy or the other appears to be surfacing. After the Indian Flag burning, Defamation of Shivaji, Buddadev Bhattacharya's profiling, it is now the controversy regarding the use of the site to profile Mumbai Underworld dons. An incident has also been brought to our notice by a lady that her picture has been used on a profile which carries on indecent conversations. In all these cases, the management of Orkut has shown no inclination to act to curtail the activity.

It also appears that many of the pages of Orkut commuinities, host pages with malicious codes. Terrorists and criminals appear to have been using the site for promoting their nefarious activities. From all these  developments that has been observed so far, it appears that Orkut itself has become a rogue site and is promoting a new culture of "Virtual Underworld". A serious question has to be therefore asked if Orkut can serve any useful purpose to the community and deserves to be blocked by law.

If Orkut  does not respond positively to clean up its site,  it deserves to be banned immediately. At least this would be a lesson for other operators not to indulge in such unethical practices to make money at the cost of the community. We therefore support strong action by Mumbai Police to shut down Orkut with immediate effect.

Related Article in cybernoon.com: Police to probe Orkut functions
 

Nepal Passes Cyber Law

Nepal has passed Electronic Transactions Act 2006 to provide a legal regime for electronic commerce in Nepal. The Act  replaces the ordinance of 2005 ....Report.

ATM PIN Reversal.. rumor

An e-rumor is circulating in the Internet that one can enter the PIN in reverse in an ATM when forced by the robbers to get cash and also alert the Police. This is a spam and not true. Some have expressed the view that it is a good idea however.

It is interesting to note that the idea was reportedly patented in 1998 by a chicago businessman. More information from snopes.com  is available here

Trends in Cyber Security

IBM X Force has predicted the following trends in the Cyber Security situation in 2007

• “Spear phishing” (targeted attacks on online consumers) will evolve beyond simply targeting online banking users, aiming at several other sources including pension sites, investment portfolios and healthcare benefit sites. The next generation of these types of ID theft malware will continue to get smarter and build user profiles for hacked accounts in an attempt to automatically log in to multiple sites with the same stolen credentials.

• Enterprises will start to see that multi-factor authentication is cumbersome and ineffective against threats that are present before and during secure transactions to online banking, and will take an active role in securing employee Web transactions.

• With the growth of behavioural engines, desktop antivirus engines will no longer be categorised as standalone devices, but rather as part of a larger complementary security system.

• The frequency of exploits through Web browsers will increase, driven by commercial malware distributors such as SpyWare.

TRAI Promotes Carbon Credit

In a bid to promote use of environment friendly energy sources by Telcom Companies, TRAI has propsoed to offer a better revenue sharing arrangement and Carbon Credit benefit. This is a significant development as it draws the Carbon Credit system close to ICT industry. Soon this could be a matter of interest to all IT Companies too. It may be recalled that Naavi through Digital Society Foundation has been trying to establish a Carbon Credit Link with farmers in an attempt to bring the benefits of the Digital Society to the rural community. However sufficient response in this direction has not yet been received from other stake holders and the measures announced by TRAI may develop more interest in Carbon Credit system by the ICT industry.TRAI proposes `carbon credits' for telcos ..BL